Seven: Part 2

This post is a bit overdue, however, I have learned that if I don't write down things I need/want to remember, I will probably forget them.  Such became my brain after three pregnancies and six sleep deprived years.  Anyway, I think that seven was celebrated awesome. It took me a few years, but I have finally realized against all Russian culture expectations that it is really is OK to invite just the child's friends and not friends' parents and their x number of siblings.  It also really is OK to serve one or two big dishes that the kids will actually eat instead of cooking up many dishes and salads to please their parents.  This year, the new way of celebrating kid birthdays worked very well.  I will no longer have to dread these parties and actually look forward to celebrating future birthdays. 

The party began a day early when some members of the birthday gang showed up at my doorsteps with their little backpacks.  Though their overnight visit was unexpected, my panic state was tamed when I saw that most of them arrived with big sisters.   Big sisters are good, very good.  They helped me clean up and took the crew to the park so that I could decorate and have a few minutes of peace before the party.  They also got the little girls dressed up and made their hair and did their make up!

 

Even the little guy got a make over!

They looked so cute.  Everyone else arrived on time and the party began with eating yummy food. I kept it simple with homemade burgers, a few salads, and shrimp fettuccine.   One of the big plates was a sushi plate that grandma bought per her only granddaughter's request.  It was a popular dish!

After that the girls played a few games ideas for which I stole borrowed from the Internet.  It was actually awesome to facilitate the games for a change instead of spending the entire time in the kitchen serving and cleaning up after people!  Here is one where the girls were divided into two teams and had to carry a boiled egg in a spoon a short distance and then drop it in the buckets. 

Another good one was a nail painting circle.   The girls circulated the nail polish around while the music was one and stopped to paint one of their nails when the music stopped.  I bought two bottles so that the game would not drag on.  Girls were so cute! 

Nicolas who wants to do many things his older sister does first joined the circle but then was shamed into the corner to be the DJ for this activity. 

Abby was such a good girl on this day.  I feared a little attitude and bossiness to come from a birthday girl, but she actually exceeded my expectations. She is very picky with clothes and is forming her own interesting style.  She got a lot of clothes, some of which she didn't like, however, while opening the gifts showed appreciation to the girls which made me feel pretty good. 

At the end of the day, everyone was safe and sound and exhausted.  The guests took their little crafty bag with a prizes home.  Little girls are fun.   Parties are fun too if kept simple, fun, inexpensive, and small.  Happy b-day, big girl!  And congratulations to Mama who has learned how to celebrate many more to come!